Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Average car payment over $700 a month

Yikes I bet at least 1/3 of said people with $700+/month loans would literally miss the very 1st payment after losing their job.

If we hit the recession it looks like we could, the only busy folks are going to be repo men and liquor store workers.

There is nothing Americans like more than to talk about how other people spend their money.

Auto makers have spent 100+ years building their market and have done very well at it. They abhor frugality and no longer offer basic vehicles. I have wasted a lot of money in my lifetime but not too much on vehicles, I'm happy to say. When I bought my last pickup (2017), it made sense to make $1100 per month payments, at 0% interest, rather than pull the money out of investment accounts. Still, I was a little embarrassed to be making a payment that large. When we replaced our ten-year-old car last year, I paid half the price and all the taxes in cash and the payments are still 500 bucks (for three years). I borrowed money for a motorcycle one time and was glad I did but all the others have been bought with cash
It is too bad there are not lower priced, basic, alternatives for those who want them. Especially in the utility/pickup field. GD

I've seen your pics, ready to sell?

I'm still using my 99 Frontier as daily driver.
230K[this week].
As long as heat & air work I'll keep chuggin along.

I think Americans are tired of bailing other people out because of poor life skills. Student loans bailouts , welfare, free healthcare for illegal aliens, huge defaults on car loans and once again we'll bail out auto industry etc etc

Auto companies make most of their profits now off of their credit programs for buyers.

It was going to cost us 500 dollars to pay cash!

I bought a new 1969 Chevelle for $3400 with payments of $70 a month. Now a car is $35,000 with $700 payments. Can you say 10x inflation?

My daughter 19 was angry I refused to cosign for her so she could buy a newer Ford Ranger pickup. I told her that I refused to saddle her with debt, and if she couldn't pay cash for the pickup she didn't need it. This was right after her boyfriend's mom cosigned a vehicle for her son (2019 Ram 2500 4X4 diesel).

My daughter did get her Ranger, a 2009 exteded cab FX4, but sold her 88 Jeep Wrangler and added $2K of her own cash to get it. She has also watched her boyfriend shell out on average $2K per month to own his diesel pickup. $900 payment, $700 insurance (multiple tickets she said), and around $100+ a week in fuel. So in the way 19 year old kids do she has thanked me, she keeps telling me how "stupid" her boyfriend was for financing a pickup.

especially if he doesn't have any money to go on a date

My advice to every youngster is to never fall for the "lets talk payment" bait and switch. I.e How much can you afford a month?

Such moves one's thoughts completely away from the price of the rig and how much profit they're leaving for the dealer. Discuss the walk out price only and arrange your own financing. Our last two purchases tried that route. My response was I could buy a Jag or whatever, if I want to do financing. Just tell me what it cost to get the rig out of here.

A dealer once told me they wanted to make 3% on a sale. Turn that money over 6 or 7 times in a year, and that's not a bad return.